


In which Agatha deals with annoyances

by Overlord_Bethany



Series: blundering onward [16]
Category: Girl Genius (Webcomic)
Genre: I'm still naming minor characters after former coworkers, Multi, Post-Canon, aggressive use of water cannon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-02
Updated: 2017-09-02
Packaged: 2018-12-22 20:30:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11974455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Overlord_Bethany/pseuds/Overlord_Bethany
Summary: She's found a secret cache of irritation.





	In which Agatha deals with annoyances

Agatha hummed as she worked her way back out of the clank's power core. Nearby, Tarvek had a panel open on the arm of the machine, fine tuning the motor function. He had worked in silence for a long while. Too long, Agatha realized as she extended her hand toward him and he failed to react. She snapped her fingers. Startled out of his thoughts, Tarvek handed her the component she needed. It resembled a cathode tube, but a small amount of Dyne water glistened inside it. 

"You're distracted," Agatha said as she placed the tube into its couplings. Not that she doubted his work. She just wanted to know where his thoughts had strayed. 

"Yes." Tarvek continued working, and for a minute Agatha thought he would leave it at that. She returned her attention to the power core, and then he said, perturbed, "Gil is an idiot."

"Oh, not this again."

Tarvek overtightened a joint, grimaced at himself, and adjusted it. "He actually thought that I would volunteer to go flying again because of—I don't know, some sense of obligation?"

Agatha uncoupled the ground and inspected the connectors. "Why did you do it?" She hid a smile at Tarvek's long, weary sigh. 

"Because… because it's been a long time since I've seen him like that: completely lost in a moment of joy. Mad, sure, but alight with it." Tarvek had set his tools aside. Slumping forward, he propped his chin on the arm of the clank. "I thought maybe that part of him was gone for good."

Agatha nodded. She could barely remember a time when she had known Gil to be so vibrant and carefree as he had seemed yesterday. For Tarvek, though… "He was like that a lot when he was younger?"

Tarvek sat down and leaned back against the clank. "Not at first." His expression grew distant. "When we first met, he was quiet, withdrawn, and no wonder. Children can be cruel. Sparky aristocrat children are so, so much worse."

Agatha thought of her own experiences in Beetleburg. She thought of Zulenna, and tried to imagine her younger. Carefully, she closed the panel over the power core. She secured it before she moved to sit beside Tarvek. 

"The first time I defended him, two of the other boys had taken a book he'd been reading. I got it from them, and I gave it back to him. He looked at me with such amazement and gratitude, I thought for sure I had just gained a loyal puppy for myself." With a chuckle, Tarvek shook his head. "But once word got around that he was under my protection, once Gil believed it himself, he came out of his shell very quickly. As though it had never existed at all, really."

Agatha arched an eyebrow at him. "So you used your social status to protect Gil from the other spoiled brats?"

Tarvek shrugged. "Sometimes my fists, too," he said, somehow missing her expression. 

"I'm not saying you wouldn't do that—I've met you, after all—but I'm having a hard time imagining Gil not fighting his own battles." Belatedly, Agatha realized that she sounded a little like Violetta when she phrased it that way. 

"I was the first person to show him how to throw a punch."

"Mm-hm." Agatha held her flat expression until Tarvek looked at her. 

"What?" he said, leaning away from her. 

"The two of you are absolutely unbelievable."

Tarvek looked as though he might like to take offense. Instead, he shrugged. "I'm choosing to take that as a compliment."

"It's not."

"I know." Tarvek lifted his shoulders as though to roll tension out of them. "So, quiet Gil was gone forever. Every day he found new ways to amaze me just by being so full of life. And then again, in Paris, he was just as vibrant as ever. But…" He drew a deep breath, let it out slowly. "But when he got me out of Mechanicsburg, something terrible had happened. I could see right away that some of his light had been smothered. I… I felt its loss…" Pressing his lips together in a tight line, Tarvek shook his head. 

Agatha took his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Tarvek looked at her hand for a few long moments before he met her gaze again. She saw how he had ached for Gil for all this time, how he had mourned. And obviously Gil had no idea. 

"Airsickness and a little panic are worth enduring," Tarvek admitted, "to see that side of him."

Leaning against his arm, Agatha squeezed his hand again. "I bet you didn't want to explain all of that to Gil."

Tarvek made a long, drawn-out scoffing sound. "I explained enough," he said. "But not that."

Of course not. Agatha kept her face turned away so Tarvek could not see her roll her eyes. Maybe Gil needed to hear it. Probably. 

She doubted Tarvek would tell him. 

"He  _is_  healing," she said. "It's just…"

"A long road," Tarvek finished for her. "I know." He drew a shuddering breath. "I do know it. And he's opened up to us so much, even compared to a few months ago."

Since the absinthe adventure with Violetta. Agatha bit her lips together to keep from saying it. Perhaps Tarvek felt her tense, for he leaned over and pressed his lips to her temple. 

"I'll try to be less distracted."

Agatha wanted to shove him. "It was only slightly annoying. Besides, Gil always distracts you."

Tarvek drew breath to reply, but at that moment the door swung open. "NO FLIRTING!" Moloch von Zinzer called out as he pushed a small trolley into the lab. It had become his customary greeting upon entering shared workspaces, but it embarrassed the newest of the staff. One of them, a girl called Galyna, trailed after him, her gaze dutifully lowered, her cheeks flushed. 

"That must be lunch," Tarvek said, and Agatha realized that she was indeed hungry. She climbed to her feet before he had a chance to help her up, which probably disappointed him a little. Reaching for his hand again, she pulled him close. 

"You know," Agatha murmured directly into Tarvek's ear, "I really love the way you and Gil love each other."

Tarvek flinched back to stare at her, his eyes wide, his cheeks turning crimson. He tried to speak, but no sound came out. Agatha waited. Perhaps she had overdone it?

"I've… often thought the same. About you and Gil."

Agatha's reply was cut short by a jet of cold water spraying on them both. Moloch von Zinzer gave them a sour look as he lowered his weapon. 

"No. Flirting."

Galyna gasped and, scandalized, she hurried to clean the remotest corner she could find. Poor thing. Also good riddance, as Agatha still found the cultists somewhat unsettling. They worshipped the old pagan goddess of the Dyne, and for reasons not entirely clear to her, they considered the Heterodyne a living avatar of their deity. It made her skin crawl if she thought too long about it. 

Von Zinzer had set up the lunch cart amid much grumbling of "Sparks!" and "can't come by good help" and the like. He harrumphed, and Tarvek took that as a signal to start making up a plate.

"Snails?" he asked, and Agatha realized that the plate was for her. She grimaced before she could stop herself. 

"I'm tired of snails," she confessed. Somehow, her Chief Minion always brought snails. She suspected a plot. 

Tarvek chuckled. "Sandwich?" He loaded weisswurst and pickled radish onto a roll. 

"Don't forget the—"

"Horseradish mustard." Tarvek winked, and Agatha bit back a smile. She didn't really want to get doused again. 

Tarvek handed her the plate, and then he made one for himself as well. Agatha leaned a little against his side and silently hoped that the subtle physical contact did not quite count as flirting. "Where is Gil anyway?" she wondered aloud. Tarvek shrugged, but on the other side of the room Galyna raised her hand and waited for permission to speak. Creepy. It made Agatha feel like a schoolteacher when they did that. 

"I saw the baron fly away about half an hour ago, Mistress," Galyna said when Agatha nodded to her. 

"Perfect." Agatha grinned at Tarvek. He smirked around a mouthful of snails. "Ready?"

Tarvek reached over and closed the panel on the clank's arm. "Ready," he said. 

Moloch von Zinzer squinted his suspicion up at the clank. "This thing's pretty big. What's it for?"

"Statue removal," Agatha said through her teeth. Yesterday before they'd crashed, she had spotted three more of those awful statues cunningly stashed around town. Those monstrosities had to go, and clearly she could not trust the Castle to handle it. Oh, she could as easily ask Franz or the Jägers, but a large clank just made a better statement. 

A silent laugh dancing behind his eyes, Tarvek extended a hand toward her. "Shall we, my love?"

Agatha looked from Tarvek to the clank, and she bit her lip in anticipation. 

Absolutely. 


End file.
